Product Description Total Folklore is an urban album, the jagged, overblown electronics mimicing the grit and chaos of Brooklyn. As a fan of the epic walk, Friel channeled the commuter while writing and recording these songs. Throughout, Friel includes short intermissions, improvisations and field recordings, as if the listener is waiting on the corner for the walk signal. From the screeching glissando of the synths of "Scavengers" to the frenetic pulse of "Thumper," Total Folklore captures the energy and irreverence of punk, while keeping a foot firmly planted on the streets of electronic pop. Review ...they are marches and rockers, with melodies running at speeds from processional to punk while whizzing, crashing, sliding, beeping, chirping sounds ricochet all over... It s a merry onslaught. --New York TimesOpening with the rosy tones of what might be a carillon ringing three counties away, Valedictorian; quickly launches into an overdriven surf-punk hoedown that sounds like Dan Deacon covering Madonna's Open Your Heart; all piledriving drum machine and dueling kazoos, piercing as an ice-cream headache. --Spin... ecstatic, noisy keyboard-based stuff that, as on Valedictorian, is full of technicolor chirp, sugar-rush whoosh, and a bucket of adrenaline. --StereogumOpening with the rosy tones of what might be a carillon ringing three counties away, Valedictorian; quickly launches into an overdriven surf-punk hoedown that sounds like Dan Deacon covering Madonna's Open Your Heart; all piledriving drum machine and dueling kazoos, piercing as an ice-cream headache. --Spin... ecstatic, noisy keyboard-based stuff that, as on Valedictorian, is full of technicolor chirp, sugar-rush whoosh, and a bucket of adrenaline. --Stereogum
S**R
Spectacular noise pop
I was a Parts and Labor fan (Friel's former band) earlier on when they were more frenetic, and all of that mix of joy and frenzy is captured here; I find myself listening to this over and over again because there's something so skillful and compelling about how the bright melodies are caked in corrosion that makes you want to go back and re-listen.Opener Ulysses is the highlight but the whole album is quality stuff; my only gripe is that I wish some of the other tracks were longer, like Valedictorian or Thumper. Otherwise, though, well worth your entertainment dollar.
B**Z
Super catchy!
Dan Friel strikes a perfect balance between ear-hook melodies and grating noise. Imagine an Atari 2600 singing punky versions of unheard Beatles songs. "Ulysses" raucously opens the album with 10+ minutes of transcendental oscillator madness. Wielding just a small keyboard and a lapful of guitar pedals, Friel is able to craft incredibly symphonic and detailed noise-pop. "Valedictorian" might be one of the tracks of the year and has been playing almost daily at our house.
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